The Art of Torturing a Seeker
by Enji
Summary: G1. Mirage and Sideswipe find a new way of torturing poor Skywarp. Bit slashy, but nothing graphic.
1. The Art of Torturing a Seeker

A/N: Me playing with random pairings generator again. This was originally planned as just a bit of Sides/Mirage fluff, since I felt I was being a bit mean to poor Mirage in _Paperclip_, but eh, as usual the characters took over and turned it into something I certainly hadn't planned.

Prompt: Skywarp / Sideswipe / redundant

Disclaimer: Don't own, please don't sue.

* * *

"Get _off_ me!"

Skywarp rolled starboard, trying to dislodge the annoying red Autobot firmly attached to his back. Sideswipe just grinned and lifted a fist again, smashing the canopy of the fighter, while holding the other arm in a hard grip around the fuselage of the fighter. The Seeker shrieked in protest as Sideswipe brought his hand inside the cockpit, tearing at the gears and controls, not caring what he ripped at as long as it seemed to hurt the jet. A sharp dive combined with a barrel roll did force him to retreat his hand and hold on with both hands for a moment, but the moment Skywarp eased up the red Autobot continued ripping, forcefully removing cables and fuel lines with an almost feral intensity, feeling the other's energon leaking between his fingers.

"Let go!" The jet shrieked again, pain and humiliation making navigation difficult. "You're– aargh!"

Sideswipe looked up just in time to see a sheer rock cliff in front of him, and made to jump off the jet and watch as the 'Con crashed into the wall. That was when he realized his hand was stuck. A piece of wiring had looped itself around it, and apparently it was strong enough to hold not matter how hard he pulled. _Oh frag_ was all he had time to think before the wall loomed up ahead of him and everything turned black.

x-x-x

A soft touch on his forehead was what brought Sideswipe back into awareness. He unshuttered his optics, and quickly turned up the opacity on them as he found himself staring straight into a bright light. Bringing up an arm to shade more he groaned as he felt the joint protesting.

"Easy now", a voice said, and Sideswipe cocked his head in wonder, moving to sit up straighter.

"Mirage? Is that you?"

A chuckle. "Yes, me. And don't move around like that, you might make your injuries worse."

"My injuries? What inj– wait, what happened? And can you please shine that light someplace else?"

"Oh, sorry." The light turned to his left, and he could now see the blue-and-white form of the spy sitting next to him, headlights on, the only source of light in this… wherever they were. I seemed to be a small irregular cave, with big chunks of rocks littered all over it. He himself was propped up against one rather big rock in a half-sitting position. "As to what happened", Mirage continued, "it's all really straight-forward. You and Skywarp rammed the cliff upon which I was standing, and apparently there was a cave or something right behind the wall because you went straight through it, making the whole thing come down which made me fall in here with you. And right now we're pretty much stuck in here, since the cave-in has blocked the way out and I can't get a signal out through all these tons of rocks."

"Oh." A sudden realization hit him. "So… Skywarp is in here too somewhere?"

Mirage just nodded towards a corner of the cave, and Sideswipe could vaguely make out a prone shape on the ground there. His view was partly blocked by a large rock, but it looked like the jet was pinned down by a multitude of smaller rocks, and he was definitely unconscious. "Don't worry about him, he's knocked out, and I took the liberty of relieving him of his weapons." Mirage held up Skywarp's cannons with a small smile. "Anyway, he's not important; I'm more worried about you. Can you tell me where you're hurt?"

Sideswipe shuttered his optics for a brief moment as he ran a scan.

"Umm, nothing serious. I mostly just feel rather dented and beaten up, and there are some minor ruptures, but my repair system is already on it. And my left hand feels rather weird." He lifted said appendage from the ground and took a look at it. "Oh."

"Ouch", Mirage said as he gently took the hand in his own and took a closer look. A strand of wire had tangled in the joints and cut down into the hand, almost taking fingers off. "How did you manage this?" he asked the red mech.

"I, uh, got stuck in Skywarp's internals", Sideswipe said with an embarrassed grin. "It's not as bad as it looks; most of that energon is his, not mine."

"I'll never understand your preference to stick your hands inside other mechs", Mirage said as he unsubspaced a piece of cloth and gently started to dry away the slick energon staining the warrior's hand. Sideswipe just shrugged. They sat in silence for a little while, Sideswipe relaxing best as he could against the rock while he felt the soft movements of the cloth removing the energon from his hand.

"There", Mirage finally said. "Now, I will try to get this wire out of your joints, all right? Just tell me if it hurts too much or so."

Sideswipe just nodded and leaned back against the rock again. It was actually rather nice feeling Mirage's gentle hands try to ease the piece of wiring free, instead of a grouchy CMO who wouldn't see the point in being more careful than necessary, and who would ream him all the time about the stupidity of tangling with Seekers.  
The wire bit into a joint and he instinctively twitched from the pain. Mirage immediately stopped what he was doing, looking at the red twin anxiously.

"I'm sorry… did I hurt you?"

Sideswipe chuckled a bit.

"Believe me, this is the gentlest anyone has ever taken care of any of my wounds." At Mirage's stricken expression he added, "Don't worry about it, 'Raj, I can handle it. I wouldn't be a frontline warrior if I couldn't take a bit of pain."

"Huh. Still doesn't mean you should have to suffer unnecessarily." Mirage started to extricate the wire once more, taking great care untangling it from the black fingers. The wire had cut deep into one of the joints, and he grimaced as he tried to pry it out without hurting Sideswipe, who sat with a stoic expression on his face. Finally he managed to get it out, and he threw the wire away from him with a disgusted expression. Taking the cloth again he wiped away the small drops of energon that had appeared when the wire had cut into the joint, cleaning Sideswipe's hand with gentle strokes. He was so engrossed in his work he didn't even notice as the red mech slowly relaxed even more and started to drift off into recharge.

"I think I got it all off now", he said offhandedly as he subspaced the cloth, looking up at the other mech, noting the shuttered optics and the way his head was tilted to the side, leaning on his shoulder. "Sideswipe?"

The spy cocked his head slightly and smiled wistfully, watching the relaxed features of the red mech.

"I wonder if you have any idea how sweet you look when you're relaxed like this", he said affectionately, stretching out with a hand to stroke the grey cheek. Sideswipe leaned into the touch, murmuring appreciatingly before unshuttering his optics and looking at Mirage with a small smile.

"Actually, I do", he said, mischief glinting in his optics. "I'm always irresistible."

"You're hopelessly deluded, that's what you are", Mirage answered with a small huff, but he couldn't help smiling himself.

"Really?" The mischievous glint suddenly turned positively wicked as Sideswipe sneaked an arm around Mirage's waist and pulled him into his lap with a quick tug. "I'm not irresistible, hmm?" he said, holding the spy tight, despite the latter's protestations.

"Sides! What do you think you're doing?" Mirage said, scandalized, as he tried in vain to extricate himself from the red mech's grip.

"Just hugging my favorite little spy", Sideswipe replied with an impish grin as he brought his injured hand up to softly stroke Mirage's blue helmet, pulling him closer.

"Sideswipe, you're _injured_", he said sternly. "You should rest, not–"

"I rest a lot better with you close to me. You don't want to deprive me of that, right?"

"Well, I–"

He didn't get any further; because Sideswipe chose that moment to pull his head close and shut him up with a tender kiss. Mirage let out a muffled sound of surprise before giving in and answering the kiss, simply enjoying the feeling of it before breaking off gently.

"Sides, much as I enjoy this, this is neither the time nor the place", he said, pulling back a little and trying to ignore the disappointed pout on the other's face, "we should try to figure out a way to get out of here or at least get in contact with someone."

"I certainly agree with_ that_", a voice suddenly said from off to their side, making Mirage jump in surprise and pulling out his rifle to point in the direction of the voice. He lowered it slowly as his optics fell on the battered frame of Skywarp.

"Oh", he said. "So you're awake now."

"Yes, and I wish I wasn't, with you two going on like that. Ick! I think I have to clean out my audios."

"Aww, you're just jealous 'cause you ain't getting any", Sideswipe piped up with a smile.

"Oh please. I'd rather strip my paint off with a potato peeler than get involved with anything like that", the Seeker replied caustically.

"That could be arranged", Sideswipe said with a small grin. "I'm sure I've got a potato peeler here somewhere… oh, well, no, seems like I've lost it. Too bad. Would have been interesting to see you without that horrendous color scheme of yours."

"Pfft. You're Autobots, you don't torture prisoners anyway."

"True", Mirage said, "but you're not exactly a prisoner now, are you?"

Skywarp stared at him best as he could, lying prone on the floor with his head twisted to the side so he could see the other two.

"Semantics. There are two of you and I can't move."

"Guess you just have to wait for your oh-so-caring leader to come and rescue you, then? In the meantime, we'll just do whatever we want over here." Sideswipe grinned lecherously at Mirage who just looked back at him, unconvinced.

"Sides, I'm _not_ doing anything while Skywarp is lying over there. Especiall–"

"Oh? You want him here with us? 'Raj, I didn't know you had it in you!" Sideswipe quipped in a truly suggestive voice, sounding almost impressed. "But really, babe, don't you think I'm enough for you?"

"Argh! I didn't hear that!" Skywarp tried to twist around where he lay, but to no avail. "I so did not hear that!"

Sideswipe pulled Mirage close again as he put his mouth close to the other's audios. "Please babe, just play along for now", he whispered, and Mirage suddenly understood what Sideswipe was doing. He nodded silently as Sideswipe raised his voice again. "But then, if you absolutely want him, I don't see why not. After all, they're really… _hot_, those 'Cons. It would certainly be _interesting_." He leered towards Skywarp who stared at him with a wide-opticed expression.

"Oh no…" the jet said. "You're _not_ thinking that. Absolutely not. I refuse to be some kind of… plaything to you!"

Mirage had to hide his face in Sideswipe's shoulder to stop from laughing at the Seeker. Thankfully, the jet didn't notice the laughter; just saw Mirage nuzzling closer to Sideswipe, and his optics widened even more. Sideswipe moaned theatrically, which made Skywarp shutter his optics tightly, mumbling "this is not happening" repeatedly.

"I think you're enough for now", Mirage said in a husky voice, snuggling up tighter by the red warrior.

"Yes", Sideswipe said breathily, "I guess he would be rather… redundant. Especially –oooh– when you're doing that."

"Like it?" Mirage said, trying to sound seductive while doing his best not to laugh.

"Yeah…" Sideswipe said, smiling at him.

"This is cruel and unusual punishment!" Skywarp yelled from his place on the floor, optics pressed hard shut.

Sideswipe had to hide a snicker at the jet's predicament.

"Now, I'm going to–" Sideswipe began, but exactly what it was he was going to do Skywarp never got to learn, for at that moment they could all hear movement, and the red warrior fell silent. A few moments later a loud crash was heard and sunlight suddenly streamed into the cave.

"Mirage? Sideswipe? You there?" a familiar voice called.

"Inferno! Here!" Mirage hollered, and the large shape of Inferno stepped into the small cave, smiling at them.

"Everything all right?" he asked.

"Oh _finally_!" Skywarp perked up from his corner. "Just take them away, _please_! I can't understand how you can put up with those two at your base. They're insane!"

Inferno glared at the prone jet.

"I wouldn't recommend insulting my friends when you're defenseless", he said unapprovingly.

"Whatever, just take them away", the jet muttered as Prowl also stepped into the cave. The tactician took in the scene with a quick glance.

"Sideswipe, Mirage, if you can get out by yourself Ratchet would like to check you out outside where the light is better. Skywarp, we'll put up a distress signal for you as soon we've left so your people can come and pick you up. Inferno, help Sideswipe if he needs it." With that he turned and walked out again.

Sideswipe looked at Mirage and gave a small laugh as they hobbled out of the cave into the sunlight.

"Well, at least this whole incident wasn't a complete waste of time. We learned a new way of torturing 'Cons without resorting to any violence."

Mirage chuckled.

"True."

Inferno just looked at them curiously.

"Do I even want to know?" he asked.


	2. The Art of Horrifying a Trine Mate

A/N: Yes, I wrote another part. This time with more Seekers. And now it's late and I really ought to go to bed.

* * *

To say Skywarp was happy would be a lie. More accurately, Skywarp was angry, vexed, indignant, irritated, mad and just generally pissed off. Not only had he been left by those idiotic Autobots who couldn't even be bothered to remove the rocks that pinned him to the ground (granted, he wouldn't have done anything for an Autobot had the situation been reversed), but his distress signal was picked up by Rumble off all people, who preferred to sit around gloating instead of helping the Seeker. Rumble's excuse was that he was too small to remove the rocks, which of course was total bullshit as the humans used to say. They had pretty good expressions, those humans, inferior though they might be.

The annoying little cassette just laughed at Skywarp when he cursed him in all languages he could think of, ("Do you think it's slagging _fun _lying here listening to slagging Autojerks slagging _making out_, do you, you slagger?") and he seemed to think what the Autobots' had done absolutely hilarious._  
_It wasn't until Soundwave arrived with Thundercracker in tow that he finally was released from his stony prison.  
But of course his indignities wouldn't end there.  
No, it turned out both of his wings was so badly bent and one thruster completely out of commission, that there was no chance he could fly home by himself. He had to be carried –carried! Seekers didn't get carried!– between Thundercracker and a highly annoyed Starscream who grumbled all the time about stupid trine-mates who couldn't take care of themselves. Thundercracker just laughed and said with a wink to Skywarp that the bitching was just Starscream's way of showing he cared, which earned him a hateful glance from said Air Commander.  
The rest of the trip back to base was spent in silence.

x-x-x

Sitting on a med table, waiting for Hook to finally deign him some attention, he thought Primus must have something against him. Otherwise, how would he have ended up with such a lousy day as today? It would have been bad enough to be wounded like he was, but he just _had_ to be subjected to indignity after indignity. He still could hear those horrible noises those two Autobots were making while waiting for rescue. Honestly, didn't they have any sense of propriety? He shuddered slightly on the table, making Scavenger look at him with a questioning look which he completely ignored. Instead he focused on reigning in an impulse to tell the idiots to get a move on and start fixing him.

It wasn't like they were doing anything important anyway. Scavenger, Long Haul and Bonecrusher were just lounging around, Hook and Scrapper were bent over some insignificant device, and Mixmaster was huddled away in a corner, cackling while mixing together something that Skywarp had no wish to know anything about. He forced himself to relax though, knowing that if he annoyed Hook it would just take longer until he was fixed, and it would probably be twice as painful.  
Not that it was easy to relax, since his processor seemed determined to haunt him by replaying the Autobots' activities in the cave. He had shuttered his optics, but sadly he was gifted with a very vivid imagination, and it easily put pictures to the sounds.  
Thundercracker had once said he had a real gutter mind, and at the time he had only grinned, but now he cursed that mind for the images it was conjuring up. Images of two Autobots, entwined together, roaming hands all over each other's bodies, drawing needy little noises from each other's vocalizer… _no_! He put his hands to the side of his head, as if trying to block out the images that way. Primus, he'd need a CPU cleaning if this was to continue.

He shot a look at Hook, but the blasted Constructicon seemed totally enthralled with whatever that device on the table was, and didn't even seem to notice he had a patient. Wondering for a moment if Hook had actually forgotten about him altogether, Skywarp decided that enough was enough and cleared his vocalizer to get the green mech's attention. Hook looked up sharply at the noise, put down the device and made his way towards Skywarp, who sat up a bit straighter, glad to finally be noticed. _Finally_ he was going to be fixed and he could leave this infernal hellhole and those crazy Constructicons. He grinned at Hook as the latter reached his table, put his hands on his hips and spoke.

"So, what's so important to disturb me from my designing duties?"

"Uh, I need to get repaired?" Skywarp said lightly, trying not to antagonize the medic. Said mech simply snorted and picked up a sharp cutting tool and pressed Skywarp down onto the table with one hand, whilst bringing the cutting tool to the Seeker's chest.

"Wait!" Skywarp shouted as he felt Bonecrusher's hands on his shoulders, holding him still against the table. "Don't I get an anaesthetic?"

Hook glared at him.

"No. You're annoying. You don't get one if you're annoying."

x-x-x

It was later, too much later if you asked Skywarp, that he was finally allowed to leave Hook's tender (hah!) care, and could escape the sadistic little freak. He cursed the Constructicons all the way to the living areas of the base, wanting nothing more than a good recharge and for this day to end. He grudgingly had to admit that Hook knew what he was doing though, despite the fact that the procedure wasn't pleasant at all. His wings were restored to their former glory, his thruster fixed, and all the little scrapes and dents were removed from his bodywork. Too bad he didn't feel as good as he looked. Turning down a corner he made straight for the room he shared with Thundercracker, hoping the blue jet wouldn't have too many questions or anything. He just wanted rest. Rest, and a dreamless recharge. Without visions of indiscreet Autobots doing Primus knew what. Oh slag. He hit his head with a fist, angry with himself for thinking about them again, filling his head with disturbing mental images.

"Argh!" he shouted out to himself, clutching his head. "Stop it!" Whatever could he have done to deserve this? Surely this couldn't be punishment for that prank he played on Starscream a few days ago? If it was, then Primus was surely without any sense of humor, because, come on, Starscream had looked absolutely _ridiculous_ in that yellow paint and with a chicken beak attached to his forehead. Skywarp giggled a bit at the memory, before his treacherous CPU decided to mix that image with the disturbing one he already had in his mind. Oh Cybertron, that was truly horrifying. He froze in the corridor, just outside his quarters, as he tried to force his mind to shut out that mental image. No such success.  
In fact, if anything, the needy sounds playing in his head seemed louder than ever…

"No…" he stammered to himself. "No… it can't be…"

His optics widened as he realized that the sounds weren't coming from his CPU after all. They were coming from inside his quarters. His and Thundercracker's quarters.

He wanted to leave. He wanted to leave, and come back, and open the door and everything would be normal, no little sounds of pleasure from inside. His legs, on the other hand, refused to cooperate. They remained frozen on the spot as his equally traitorous audios took in every little word, every whimper from the other side of the door. He knew those voices. He knew those voices so well, hearing them every day while out flying.

"Ooh, that's _so_ good", Thundercracker's voice drifted out, and was shortly followed by a high-pitched moan that could only belong to the Air Commander.

"I'm dreaming", Skywarp muttered to himself. "I fell asleep on the table while Hook was working on me, and now I'm having a nightmare. That's the only explanation for this. It's a nightmare. Just a nightmare."

He leaned towards the wall, hands to his audios, trying to block out the sound and failing miserably.

"It's a nightmare. I can wake up any moment. Just like that. Come on, 'Warp, wake up…"

"Yes… that's it…" He tried not to think. He really did, but hearing Starscream sound like that… his mind produced an image of his trine mates entwined on his berth. Primus, he'd never be able to recharge on it again! Of course, he couldn't know which berth they were on, or if they were indeed on one at all –his mind conjured up more images containing desk tops, the floor and even the small chair in the room– but considering how bad this day had already been, it was likely they were on his. Primus must _really_ hate him.

"Come on… come on now…" Thundercracker's voice sounded a bit strained, and Skywarp almost screamed.

"This is not fair", he muttered. "So not fair." He shuttered his optics hard. "If this is a dream I want to wake up now. Now. Please?" He opened them again and looked around hopefully. Still the same old corridor. Still the same noises from his room, somewhat louder now, and more strained. He sank down next to the wall, finally giving up, images whirling in his mind. Images of the Autobots mixed with images of his wing mates and somewhere in there a big yellow chicken made an appearance as well. He didn't care any longer, just sat on the floor, leaning on the wall, sobbing as the sounds from his room reached their climax in a wordless moan, and then fell quiet.

Quiet.

He couldn't really believe it. The noises were gone. Slowly he rose, putting an audio against the wall.

Nothing. With the silence came the sudden realization that he couldn't just go into his own room to recharge, because nothing, not even a hundred angry Devastators, could get him to set a foot inside that door now. He slowly moved away from the wall, and then, as he realized his legs would actually do his bidding, he turned and fled towards the rec room.

x-x-x

"You don't think this was a bit mean?"

Thundercracker sat in his berth, looking at his commander who was sitting on the only chair in the room, wearing a smug expression.

"He deserved it", Starscream simply said.

"Hmm. I do admit, it was pretty fun. So, are you or I going to get those recordings to Rumble as thanks for telling us about what Skywarp heard in the cave?"

"You do it."

Thundercracker just nodded. There would be hell to pay tomorrow when Skywarp found out he'd been had, but it would be worth it. It would be totally worth it.


	3. The Art of Annoying a Brother

A/N: All right, this came pretty much out of nowhere. I sat down to write another chapter of another fic, and couldn't. So I wrote this instead. This is the last installment of this little fic. Well, probably, at least. I thought that after the last chapter too. ;-)  
This thing did not turn out _at all_ as I had planned. It was planned as some more comedy, but Sunstreaker refused, and this is what we got. Oh well. It's late, I better go to sleep.

* * *

Sunstreaker was walking to and fro outside the closed doors, fuming. How dared Ratchet keep him out of the med bay when his brother was injured? He brought a hand up to nurse the small dent in his head just above one of his side vents, courtesy of an angry Ratchet and a small hammer. So what if he'd been a little bit zealous in his rants to his brother? So what if the CMO thought it interfered with his repairs? It wasn't like the idiot was critically injured anyway, so did it really matter if the repairs had to wait five minutes for him to properly tell Sideswipe off for doing such a stupid stunt?  
He muttered a curse to himself and resisted the urge to beat his way through the doors. Prowl would probably not like that at all, and pissing off Prowl was usually not a very wise move, unless one happened to really like cleaning duty and watching the dull, orange walls of the brig.

"Sunstreaker?"

A hesitant voice from behind him made him turn around, and he must really have looked ready to kill something, for Mirage flinched visibly at the sight of Sunstreaker's face. Not that he really cared.

"What?" he said with a sneer. Mirage however seemed to have recovered quickly from the initial shock of seeing the warrior so angry, and put on a hard face himself.

"Hey, I was just coming to check on Sideswipe. No reason for you to act all that hostile."

Sunstreaker just snorted, and turned away to continue his pacing. "Yeah, good luck with that. Ratchet's locked the doors."

Mirage cocked his head. "Why? Is there anything wrong?" He couldn't quite keep the worry out of his voice, even though Sunstreaker could hear he tried to sound casual. He halted briefly, and then turned around to face the spy.

"Other than my brother getting himself slagged and our oh-so-empathic CMO throwing hammers at me and locking me out of the med bay so I have no idea what's going on in there? Well, except from that everything's just peachy keen." Sunstreaker said, sarcasm heavy in his voice. Some little part of his mind was poking at his attention, trying to tell him that lashing out at Mirage wasn't really fair, that the spy was probably just worried like him. He shut it away, together with the traitorous thought that maybe he was being unjustly hard on Mirage because the blue mech happened to be his brother's lover, someone that he had to share Sideswipe's affection with. Well, at the moment anyway. Sideswipe's affections usually didn't last all that long. He was much too impulsive to bind himself exclusively to one person forever. Except his brother of course, but they didn't have much of a choice in that respect, being twins and all.

Mirage however didn't rise to the bait. He just sat down, back against the wall, resting his arms on his knees. "I guess we just have to wait then," he said, leaning his head back until it hit the wall with a dull clang. Sunstreaker looked at him for a long moment, and then started to walk again. He shook his head at the spy who was sitting absolutely still, looking completely calm. He managed to pace for another minute, before the presence of the Ligier became too distracting.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" he said as he stomped up to Mirage, looming over him.

"Hmm?" Mirage lifted his head from the wall, looking at the yellow warrior standing almost threateningly over him. "What?" Sunstreaker waved an arm about.

"How can you be so slaggin' _calm_? You're just sitting there like... like nothing. Doesn't he _mean_ anything to you? Aren't you worried, angry, feeling _something_? How can you not _care_?"

He knew at the moment he uttered the last sentence that it had been the wrong thing to say. Mirage's face suddenly turned from utterly calm to something hard, like water that suddenly froze to ice.

"Do not ever again assume I don't care, Sunstreaker. Just because I don't walk around with my feelings plastered all over my face does not mean I do not care. I care very deeply about your brother, but I do not feel the need walking around looking for things to beat up just because of it. Besides," his voice took on a slightly softer tone, "I know, just as you do, that he wasn't that badly injured. For Primus sake, he walked in here by himself! There is no reason to be needlessly worried."

Sunstreaker just stood still, looking at the spy mutely. He certainly didn't want to admit to it, but Mirage did have a point. After all, Sideswipe had been injured a lot worse before, and Ratchet had always managed to patch him up. And it _was_ rather presumptuous of him to assume that Mirage didn't care just because he didn't show it the same way as Sunstreaker did. After all, what did he know about the other mech, other than the fact that he was rather reclusive and that his brother for some reason had taken a liking to him? Maybe it was time to actually try to−

He never got to finish that thought though, for at that moment the doors to the med bay swished open and he turned around to find himself face to face with his brother, who had to stop suddenly or walk straight into his twin.

"Whoa Sunny!" Sideswipe said with a grin, reaching out with an arm to steady himself against Sunstreaker as he was slightly unbalanced from the sudden stop. "I know you must have missed me, but to wait just outside the doors like that? Or maybe you were desperate for a hug?"

Sunstreaker stared at his brother for a moment, trying to get his CPU to start working again. "You− you−"

"I'm what?" Sideswipe said, still smiling. "Looking great? Stunning? The most handsome devil on this planet?" Sunstreaker glared at him for a second. Handsome? Yeah, if you were into mechs with long weld marks criss-crossing their body, maybe. Although, to be honest, the marks weren't that bad and Sideswipe's internal repair system probably would have them gone by the morning. Sunstreaker shook his head, focusing on the more important issue. Such as the fact that Sideswipe was finally here in front of him to berate.

"You're an _idiot_," he said. "A total, fragging, moronic idiot."

Sideswipe seemed a bit taken aback by that statement.

"Hey," he said defensively, "I'm not."

"Actually, I'm inclined to agree with Sunstreaker, for once," a voice behind him said and Sideswipe half turned around, a hurt look on his face.

"Now that's harsh, Ratch," he said.

Ratchet just shrugged. "Nevertheless, it's the truth. Now get out of here, and I don't want to see you back unless you're dying. In fact, I don't want to see that either, so just refrain from it 'cause I'm not in the mood to fix you again anytime soon." With that he shut the door, leaving Sideswipe in the hallway, facing his irate twin.

"So..." he said somewhat carefully, taking in the angry sight of Sunstreaker.

"Idiot." Sunstreaker said again.

"What did I do? " Sideswipe said, edging sideways so his back was no longer against the med bay doors.

"What did−" Sunstreaker started, sounding incredulous, then shook his head. "What _didn't_ you do? You _didn't_ let go of the thrice-damned Seeker before he decided to plunge into a cliff, that's what! What were you thinking, idiot?"

"Calm down, Sunstreaker," Mirage said. Sunstreaker whipped around to see that the spy had stood up, and was now standing right behind him, a hand lifted as if he was debating whether or not to put it on Sunstreaker's shoulder. He finally let it fall down back instead. "It wasn't his fault, really," Mirage continued, looking a little bit uncomfortable but determined to stand up for his lover.

"How exactly was it not his fault? He should have jumped off that 'Con!" Sunstreaker let his gaze snap back to Sideswipe. "You have a jet pack, you know."

"I'm not an idiot, and I know that," Sideswipe answered in a chilly voice, crossing his arms. "However, my hand was kinda stuck inside Skywarp, so I couldn't get off."

Sunstreaker frowned, looking at his brother as if he was joking. "How the frag did you get stuck in him?"

"I got tangled in some wires. All right? Will you now please lay off the whole thing? Can't you just be happy I'm okay? Do you really need to rant at me _every_ time I get injured just because you don't know how to show you care in any other way?" He twisted away from his brother, stepping towards Mirage who was looking a bit unsure of what to do in the situation, not wanting to get between the brothers while they were arguing. "'Raj," Sideswipe said softly, "you okay?" Mirage just nodded once, warily, still keeping an optic on Sunstreaker as Sideswipe drew him into an embrace. "Let's go somewhere else and let Sunny calm down a bit, okay?" Sideswipe said, throwing an angry glance at his brother.

Sunstreaker just looked at the two of them, CPU spinning. Did Sideswipe really mean that? Was he really incapable of showing how much he cared in any other way than lashing out at his brother? He felt a bit stunned. Why _couldn't_ he just be happy his brother was all right? Why did he always get so mad at him? Now that he really thought about it he felt a bit stupid. He really should have gotten all the facts before lashing out. And now Sideswipe was leaving, walking away down the corridor, just because he'd been stupid enough to antagonise his sibling...

"Wait."

He hadn't even realised he'd called out until he heard his own voice. He saw Sideswipe stiffen, and then turn around, Mirage next to him.

"Yes?" Sideswipe said, voice still chilly.

"I− I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those things." He bowed his head slightly, not used to apologising. He hesitated for a moment, then decided that he'd already probably made a fool out of himself, and plunged on. "I guess I let my emotions run away with me. I'm sorry." He kept staring at the floor, wishing he could turn invisible just like his brother's lover. There was silence, and it was with a sinking feeling that he realised that they had probably left him. Stupid of him, really, to think that Sideswipe would just forgive him like that. After all, he probably wasn't all that easy to live with...

"Hey..." His brother's soft voice, coming from right in front of him, made him look up again. Sideswipe was looking at him with a strange expression on his face, like a mixture of confusion and sympathy. "Sunny... it's all right. I know."

"You do?" It was Sunstreaker's turn to feel confused.

"Of course I do! I'm your brother, for cryin' out loud. I know you." Sideswipe reached out with a hand, gently touching Sunstreaker's shoulder. He held it there for a moment, and then smiled at the yellow mech. "Apology accepted, by the way."

"So..." Sunstreaker started. "We're good?" he finished hesitantly.

Sideswipe nodded. "I won't deny that I was angry at you, but... yeah, we're good." He straightened up a bit, clapping Sunstreaker on the back. "Now... what do you say we all go get some energon and we can tell you all about how to torture Skywarp without even touching him."

"Do I really want to know?"

"Probably not, but I'm gonna tell you anyway. And then you're gonna tell me how you got that dent in your head."

Sunstreaker brought a hand up to feel the small dent, grumbling under his breath. "Ratchet. Hammer," he simply said.

"Huh. A hammer? He must be running low on wrenches." Sideswipe quipped as he put an arm around his brother's shoulders, and another around Mirage's, leading them towards the rec room.

"Ha ha. Very funny."

"Yes, I thought so," Sideswipe said with a grin. "Now, this whole mess started with me deciding it was a good idea to punch a hole in Skywarp's cockpit while flying..."


End file.
